Prnn in 1830: Wild studentys, cheap tuition

Remember when a semester's tuition, room and board cost $28, and you could throw ink blotters at your professors in class? Costs have climbed and the University has calmed down since 1830, explained EFFECT member and College junior Morgan Friedman during a forum Tuesday night. More than 30 students, faculty and staff attended the presentation by EFFECT, which was formed last year for students interested in undergraduate research. Students formed the program when a University-sponsored living-learning pilot, the Center for Advanced Undergraduate Study and Exploration (CAUSE), was dissolved last spring. CAUSE was to open this fall as a residential college pilot program, where students interested in research would live in one dorm together. CAUSE, along with one other proposed pilot program, was canceled for lack of adequate student enrollment. Members of EFFECT remain dedicated to research. The group holds small talks or workshops where members present original research work. On Tuesday, Friedman conducted a talk in the Upper East Lounge of Hill House, based on his research into Penn's campus 160 years ago. He obtained most of his information from the University Archives and Record Center beneath Franklin Field, he said. Friedman's goal was to present his research through an on-line multimedia tour of campus circa 1830. "Making a web site was sort of a new, avant-garde research idea," he said. The site presents maps, student profiles, course descriptions and library catalogs from the time period. EFFECT organizers hope presentations like Friedman's will show other students how important it is to get involved in research at the earliest levels, and to share with and learn from other people who do similar work, Friedman said. He added that the exciting part of EFFECT is presenting information not only to people who are involved in that field, but to anyone else interested. Those who attended Friedman's presentation learned that the University used to be located on 9th Street, between Chestnut and Market streets. At the time, campus consisted of one small building, built originally for the president of the United States when Philadelphia was the nation's capital. The 1830s were a time of rebellion, Friedman said. It was not rare to see students throwing blotters at their professors, insulting a professor to his face, or rolling pebbles on the floor with the intention of tripping a professor. Friedman added that there were five professors and only 15 students per class, all studying the same topics. In addition, all professors and the students were male. Freshmen learned algebra and rhetoric, while sophomores studied The Iliad, Cicero and chemistry. Juniors took classes on electromagnetism and moral philosophy, and seniors studied geology and took a class on "Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion." Tuition cost only $25 per term, and an extra $3 covered room and board. "[Friedman] did an excellent job of making life at Penn in 1830 seem real," said College freshman Bill Conway. "I felt like I was actually there." College and Engineering senior Raj Iyer said the loss of CAUSE has not dampened EFFECT members' love for research. The organizers of the program lobbied Provost Stanley Chodorow last year for funds to start EFFECT after CAUSE was canceled. Iyer said the program solves the "ever-recurring problem of students who are interested in doing research, but don't know how to get started." "EFFECT helps them narrow the scope of possibility to decide what exactly to research," he explained. "It does not have to be only academic." Several students in EFFECT live in Van Pelt College House, "a themeless but communal and friendly house," according to Iyer. Other members live elsewhere, but still participate actively. The group has also drawn some residents of Van Pelt who liked what EFFECT was doing, he said. "Once we had a mass of about 20, we finally had enough to say 'good, now we can do something'." Those interested in learning about the University in the year 1830 can visit Friedman's web site at "http://www.upenn.edu/AR".

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